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Teachers and educators will learn about:

Creating

an inclusive and welcoming school environment

Developing

effective communication skills to build trust and understanding with your students and their families

Empowering

and collaborating with families as partners of their child’s education

Exploring

best practices to build purposeful family school partnerships

Family School Partnership ECHO

Join us for a free virtual learning series designed to enhance family engagement in schools. This series provides practical strategies to help educators build strong partnerships with families, fostering student success both in and out of the classroom.

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Welcome All Families

In this interactive session, you’ll explore key insights from foundational family engagement research and discover how to apply them in your daily interactions with families.

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You’ll gain access to a practical conversation guide designed to help you plan and lead relationship-building discussions with families. Together, we’ll examine the differences between routine teacher-family conversations and those intentionally focused on building trust and connection.

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With dedicated planning and practice time, you’ll leave this session feeling confident and prepared to nurture stronger, more meaningful relationships with every student’s family.

RESOURCE:
Building Trusting Relationships with Families

Offers a structured approach and practical guidance for initiating and managing relationship-building conversations with families, enhancing communication and engagement in their school or district.

Culturally Responsive Family Engagement

In this session, participants will:

  • Reflect on their core beliefs about families and how these beliefs shape family engagement practices.

  • Explore strategies for asset-based, culturally responsive family engagement.

 

Culturally responsive family engagement shifts the focus from what families may lack to the unique strengths, lived experiences, and cultural identities they bring to their child’s education.

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Through guided reflection, you’ll examine how implicit biases or blind spots might influence your interactions with families. You’ll also gain practical strategies for deep listening and building trust, ensuring that every family feels seen, valued, and included.

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This session provides the tools and insights you need to become a culturally responsive family engagement practitioner in your school community—equipped to create meaningful partnerships that honor every family's strengths.

RESOURCE:
What Is Culturally Responsive Family Engagement?

This resource highlights the power of relationship-focused conversations, emphasizing listening, mutual respect, and shared expertise to build trust between teachers and families. It offers practical prompts and strategies to create meaningful partnerships that support student success​.

Supporting Student Success

In this session, participants will:

  • Learn a structured approach to planning inclusive, academically focused family conferences using a Family Conference Guide.

  • Gain practical tools for creating agendas that reflect both teacher and family priorities.

 

Family conferences are key opportunities to build trust, share academic expectations, and equip families with actionable insights to support their child’s learning at home. With the Family Conference Guide, you’ll learn how to lead clear, purposeful conversations that help families understand:

  • What their child should know and achieve by year-end

  • What their child is currently learning

  • How their child is performing against grade-level standards

  • How they can support classroom instruction at home

 

This session will leave you confident and prepared to foster meaningful partnerships through effective, collaborative family conferences.

RESOURCE:
Supporting Student Success: Family Conference Guide

This guide provides a step-by-step approach to planning inclusive family conferences that build trust, share academic expectations, and foster collaboration. It equips teachers with strategies to center family priorities, communicate clearly, and empower families to support student learning at home​.

Family Engagement Problems of Practice

In this session, participants will:

  • Collaborate with peers to address real-world family engagement challenges.

  • Use a structured problem-solving approach to identify root causes, challenge assumptions, and explore actionable solutions.

 

Family engagement challenges are often complex and nuanced, with no one-size-fits-all answers. This session offers a collaborative space to share experiences, unpack persistent challenges, and generate thoughtful strategies for improvement.

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By the end, you’ll leave with practical, actionable ideas to address your unique challenges—solutions that honor family relationships and strengthen partnerships for long-term success.

RESOURCE:
Family Engagement Problem of Practice Protocol

This resource provides a structured, collaborative process for addressing complex family engagement challenges. Through guided discussions, participants identify root causes, challenge assumptions, and generate actionable solutions. The protocol fosters reflection, shared learning, and practical strategies to strengthen family-school partnerships​.

Planning Challenging Conversations with Families

In this session, participants will:

  • Strategize and plan for a productive and outcomes-focused conversation with a student’s family.

  • Learn techniques for balancing honesty with empathy and active listening.

 

Every family deserves an accurate and timely picture of their child’s academic and social-emotional progress. However, delivering difficult news can be challenging. This session will guide you through planning and leading sensitive conversations, ensuring they are approached with care, clarity, and respect.

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You’ll leave equipped with practical strategies to communicate directly, address emotions with sensitivity, and ultimately strengthen trust and partnership with families, even in the face of tough topics.

RESOURCE:
Having Challenging Conversations with Families

Helps educators engage effectively with families in difficult conversations by providing strategies for active listening, validating emotions, and collaboratively addressing student challenges with empathy and clear communication.

Equitable and Effective Communication

In this session, participants will:

  • Reflect on the frequency and quality of their communication with students’ families.

  • Identify trends and opportunities to enhance equity in their outreach.

 

Open, consistent communication between educators and families is key to student success. However, busy schedules and unconscious biases can sometimes lead to uneven communication patterns.

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This session offers a chance to analyze your current practices, recognize areas for growth, and develop a plan for individualized, impactful communication with families. You’ll leave equipped with clear next steps to ensure every family feels informed, valued, and empowered to support their child’s education.

RESOURCE:
Equity in Communication Reflection Tool

This resource helps educators evaluate and improve the equity of their communication with families. By identifying patterns, strengths, and gaps in communication, teachers can ensure all families receive positive outreach, understand academic expectations, and have the tools to support learning at home. The tool encourages intentional, inclusive practices to build stronger family-school partnerships

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